Satisfaction as a means to Green Bhakti

1 May , 2014  

Conversations about sustainable living and going green are incomplete without one taking a personal inventory of the heart.

How much do I really need? Am I following the demands of an artificial society that tells me all the myriad things I need to have in order to be considered normal by social standards? Am I in the whirlpool of needing many objects to keep me happy and sane? Am I deriving my sense of self from possessions OR from a deep connection with the Divine?Consumer Less

Satisfaction vs the Burden of Possession

In the execution of our bhakti it is recommended by Lord Kapila Deva in the Srimad Bhagavatam that we become satisfied with only as much as needed to keep body and soul together.

Lord Kapila explains that in the broader sense, everyone who accumulates more than he needs is a thief.

According to spiritual communism, one cannot possess more than he needs for his personal maintenance. That is the law of nature. If we have more than what we need, it becomes a burden on our spiritual lives.

A lot of personal energy is wasted in earning enough to buy those things and even more energy goes into maintaining them. If we do not accumulate so much , lesser greenhouses gases are released for manufacturing those items. Lesser amount of natural resources are exploited.

The Lord has made available enough resources for all of us to live our lives properly without the need to exploit the environment. It is problematic only when we desire to have more than allocated for us. Our own need for accumulating more than needed creates an artificial shortage causing manufacturers to manufacture more of those materials and cause harm to the environment. Living with satisfaction and less not only helps the internal environment but also helps the external environment- it puts less stress on mother earth- Bhumi Devi.

Image Courtesy: victimsofdystopia.weebly.com, theforestspeaks.livejournal.com

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